Matthew Nisbet
Professor of Communication at Northeastern University.
nisbetmc
Posts by this author
April 13, 2007
It's definitely been a busy week trying to keep up with a seismic blog debate. I've tried to weigh in where I can and so has Chris Mooney. However, in regards to our Science Policy Forum article, I think that this NPR On the Media segment pushes along the discussion . The show airs over the…
April 12, 2007
How do you play on the fragmented media system and the miserly nature of the public to persuade Americans to oppose major policy action on climate change? Conservative columnist George Will knows the "secret," and he uses his understanding once again in today's nationally syndicated column. It's…
April 11, 2007
Over at the blog Nanopublic, Dietram Scheufele, a professor of communication at the University of Wisconsin, has posted a very useful discussion of our Science Policy forum article.
Scheufele, one of the most widely cited scholars on framing and the media, recently co-edited a special issue on…
April 11, 2007
How difficult is it for a well known political figure to break through the perceptual screens of partisanship, along with the ingrained frames of reference that citizens have developed over years, and boost their standing in the polls?
Consider Al Gore. Despite winning an Academy Award, receiving…
April 10, 2007
Back in February, I chronicled the problems that the year's first IPCC report had in achieving wider media and public attention. In response, I argued that in today's fragmented media system, relying on traditional news coverage to attract the attention of the wider public just wasn't good enough…
April 10, 2007
AAAS has provided me with an author's referral link that offers free access to our Policy Forum article. You can find the link in the left sidebar, just under the Science cover.
Meanwhile, I try to update blog reaction as best I can at this post.
April 9, 2007
Our Policy Forum article at Science has generated a monster blog discussion, one that is almost too much to keep up with. I continue to try to keep a summary here with my quick responses, where appropriate. I have also posted several comments at other blogs. I will continue to update as more blog…
April 5, 2007
I have a Policy Forum article appearing this week in the journal Science that is likely to spark a major debate. Co-authored with Chris Mooney and titled "Framing Science," the themes covered will be familiar to readers of this blog. In the piece, we respectfully argue that scientists shouldn't…
April 4, 2007
Over at The Intersection, Chris Mooney has a post up about the complete absence of U.S. news coverage dedicated to the record six tropical cyclones that have hit Madagascar, killing hundreds and causing massive damage.
It's the old proximity norm creating bias in news coverage. The result, apart…
April 4, 2007
Everywhere you look, polarized views from the tail ends of the bell curve of opinion on climate change are being picked up by the media. Indeed, only at a few outlets like the NY Times, WPost, or NPR can Americans get that "invisible middle" of views on the issue. Unfortunately, these are not the…
April 3, 2007
In his response to the Supreme Court ruling, President Bush framed any policy action in familiar terms, emphasizing the "unfair economic burden" placed on the U.S. by any "cap and trade" emissions cuts.
The decision (of) the Supreme Court we take very seriously. It's the new law of the land," Bush…
April 3, 2007
Back in February, I described how the first release of the IPCC was a massive communication failure, never really landing on the wider media or public agenda. In a column at Skeptical Inquirer Online, I described alternative strategies for reaching Americans.
As the next IPCC release arrives…
April 3, 2007
Despite the ever growing scientific consensus about the nature and urgency of global warming, Americans remain more divided politically on the matter than at anytime in history. The reason is that personal views on global warming have come to define what being a Democrat or Republican means. As GOP…
April 2, 2007
On April 24, investigative reporter Brooks Jackson and UPenn professor Kathleen Hall Jamieson are set to release a new book that is sure to be of interest to Framing Science readers...from the news release:
Friday, March 30, 2007
UnSpun: Finding Facts in a World of Disinformation, a new book…
April 2, 2007
The Free University Berlin has an associate professor opening in Science Communication, as part of their Department of Political and Social Sciences and their Institute of Media and Communication Studies. I have posted the full description below the fold. Contact Markus Lehmkuhl at kuhle@zedat.fu…
April 2, 2007
At the NY Times, Michael Crichton reviews Jerome Groopman's new book, a compilation of his medical essays from the New Yorker. Crichton's review is worth reading, and two themes familiar to Framing Science readers stand out from his discussion of Groopman's view on modern medicine:
a) Just like…
April 2, 2007
Florida and Ohio State face off tonight in the Men's NCAA basketball championship, a re-match of January's national title game in football. Both schools feature the best athletics programs that money can buy, as they each spend an astounding $100 million dollars annually on their sports programs…
April 1, 2007
My focus on the striking partisan differences in perceptions about the urgency and science of global warming has generated serious buzz at the NY Daily News, the Huffington Post, and elsewhere across the Web. For many insiders I talk to here in DC, they are stunned by the poll numbers. Indeed,…
March 30, 2007
On April 10, the Poynter Institute is set to release it's latest "eye tracking" study of how readers navigate the printed and online news page. The preview of the key findings is fairly suprising. Watch the video about the study at the site, and listen to this NPR Marketplace story on the…
March 30, 2007
Before leaving the Massachusetts' Governor's office, GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney added regulatory language to a legislative bill that was originally intended to only prohibit the creation of embryos for research purposes within the state. Romney's additional language appeared to also…
March 26, 2007
As I've noted, in places like Canada and Europe, nuclear energy has been successfully reframed as an important "middle way" compromise solution in the debate over what to do about global warming. Now a report out today from the Oxford Research Group casts doubt on the potential of nuclear. From…
March 23, 2007
In conjunction with Earth Day, a number of major survey results have been released on global warming, energy, and the environment. The latest is a survey from Gallup that chronicles American views on energy, and the trade-offs between the environment and the economy. Of note, is the now striking…
March 23, 2007
As I have detailed at Framing Science many times, over the past five years, as Democrats and Independents have shifted their views in support of embryonic stem cell research and policy action on climate change, little or no movement in opinion has occurred among self-identifying Republicans. In…
March 23, 2007
An initiative that I have been pitching in talks across the country (for example, go here, here, and here), has been proposed for official funding in Congress. Stay tuned for more on this much needed bill.
Washington, DC - Congresswoman Doris O. Matsui (CA-05) introduced the Scientific…
March 22, 2007
The NY Daily News spotlights yesterday's post on the "Two Americas of Global Warming Perceptions" as among the Web's best.
March 21, 2007
Gallup's annual Earth Day survey of public attitudes on the environment is out today, and the results are consistent with the patterns revealed across other surveys this year. In short, while 2006 featured a historic high in media attention to global warming and Al Gore scored publicity success…
March 21, 2007
All eyes today are on Capitol Hill as former VP Al Gore testifies before Congress on global warming. Bill Broad's NY Times' article last week has launched a new narrative in coverage, as various journalists review whether "Gore got the science right" in Inconvenient Truth. Interviewed by host…
March 19, 2007
As I've previously written, expect 2008 to be defined as the YouTube election, as campaigns generate online and conversational buzz by placing innovative ads on the video sharing site, amplifying attention to the ads by way of free media publicity at the Drudge Report, online newspapers, and blogs…
March 16, 2007
By way of the Internet, Americans today have more public affairs and science-related information available to them than at any time in history. Yet the availability of information does not mean people will use it. Given the many competing alternatives across entertainment, celebrity culture, and…
March 14, 2007
My quick summary reaction to Bill Broad's provocative NY Times article surveying a few scientists and social scientists' opinions on Al Gore's Inconvenient Truth:
1) Just like in politics generally, science-related blogs can strongly shape the news agenda and framing of an issue, and Broad's…